Introducing Michigan State University students to the history and religion, culture and civilization of the Jewish people

Frank and Adelaide Kussy Memorial Scholarship

The Kussy Scholarship for Study of the Holocaust offers support for worthy and capable students and faculty of Michigan State University to engage in study of the Holocaust and its legacy. The Kussy Scholarship proivdes up to two awards of at least $1000 each offered annually by James Madison College and is intended to assist student and faculty academic projects and educational efforts that focus on the Holocaust or its legacy. It has been made possible by a donation by Jack and Henriette Warren to honor the memory of Henriette’s parents, Frank and Adelaide Kussy, and to sponser study of the Holocaust, one of the central events of the 20th century.

Award Guidelines

AWARD

Up to two scholarships of $1000 each for Holocaust study

ADMINISTRATION

Administered by James Madison College of Michigan State University

ELIGIBILITY

Students or faculty in James Madison College or other colleges at Michigan State University who are engaged in serious academic projects related to the study of the Holocaust or its legacy. This may include course work, thesis, independent study, relevant study abroad, independent research or creative academic projects.

CRITERIA

Applications will be judged on meritorious academic project; student academic performance; faculty merit; project contribution to the college, to the university, or to society.

Application

Applicants must apply by April 1 to:

Office of the Dean

James Madison College
367 S. Case Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48825
The application requires a description of the prop qualifications, a brief curriculum vitae or transcript; a letter of recommendation and a budget. Completed projects will be kept on file at James Madison College and made available to students and faculty.

Selection

A committee of three faculty members appointed by the dean, with advice from the college’s faculty affairs committee, will review applications and, under the dean’s leadership, select Kussy Award recipients. Awards are effective the following academic year, either for summer or academic year study. Awards may be used for tuition, to support travel or study abroad, for subsistence, or for research or material costs related to the project.

Frank and Adelaide Kussy

Frank Kussy was born Werner Franz Kussy to a Czech Jewish family in Dresden, Germany. He studied engineering at the University of Munich (1932) and earned the Ph.D. in electrcial engineering from the University of Vienna in 1936. On Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938, he was arrested by the Nazis and later released. He and his family fled Germany in late August 1939, only to be trapped by the outbreak of war in Holland.

Adelaide Kussy was a teacher and a member of the Dutch resistance who assisted Frank and his family in Nazi-occupied Holland during the early 1940s. Frank, his brother Victor, and their mother were arrested by the Nazis in November 1942 and sent to Westerbork. In April 1943, they were transported to Theresienstadt, where they slave labored until September 1944.

In September-October 1944, the Kussys were sent in boxcars to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Frank was the sole survivor in the family, and was at Birkenau and Gleiwitz, an Auschwitz sub-camp, until the Red Army liberated him at Blechammer, another sub-camp, in January 1945. Following the war, Adelaide and Frank reunited, returned to Dresden, East Germany, built a new life and family together, then migrated with their children to the United States during the early 1950’s.

Frank Kussy had a successful career as an engineer and engineering fellow, authored several books, and served as a member of the International Executive Service Corps, consulting in Egypt and Zimbabwe. He has spoken of his Holocaust experiences at James Madison College and Michigan State University on several occasions and was the subject of a senior thesis, My Grandfather’s Stories, written by his granddaughter at James Madison College in 1998.

James Madison College is a residential college of approximately 1000 students which blends the best of a small college with the larger university. Since the inception of the college in 1967, the college has graduated five Rhodes Scholars, eight Truman Scholars, six Marshall Scholars, seven Fulbright Scholars, five National Science Foundation Fellows and regularly represents approximately 30% of MSU’s Phi Beta Kappa class. The JMC faculty are regularly recipients of MSU’s teaching awards. The college’s rigorous, sequenced curriculum in public affairs challenges students at every level of their studies emphasizing analytic and critical thinking through extensive written, quantitative and oral communication. Language and interdisciplinary requirements coupled with the rigorous curriculum in public affairs equip students to meet the challenges of leadership in American society and the global economy.

For more information please contact:

Office of the Dean
James Madison College
Michigan State University
367 South Case Hall
East Lansing, Michigan 48825
Tel: (517) 353-6755
Fax: (517) 432-1804

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Giving Opportunities

If you have interest in donating to our Program, please contact us or you may donate online